I also added 1 cup of Quaker Oats for texture, taste, and whole grain goodness!

3. Place the cereal and oats in a large ziplock bag and lightly crush until the cereal is slightly ground.

4. Pour cereal back into the bowl, and add the syrup.

5. Add the peanut butter and sweetener.

6. Stir until everything is just mixed together.

7. Add the chocolate chips!

8. And the coconut! (Of course you could leave this out or replace it with something else, like dried fruit!)

9. Mix everything together until everything is well mixed.I even ended up using my hands to mix everything up really well!

10. Spray a 9×13 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray and pour granola mixture in pan. Press granola mixture until you reach a desired thickness. I personally wanted ‘bigger’ bars, so I spread my mixture out pretty thin. *Note: It’s OK of the bars don’t spread out over the whole pan!

11. Preheat oven to 375, and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cut into 12 even bars with a spatula. Place back into the oven for another 15 minutes for ‘chewy’ granola bars, or turn off oven and let bars sit in the oven while it cools down, (for up to an hour) for a more ‘crunchy’ granola bar!

Remove from oven and enjoy!

Store in an airtight container~ or freeze leftovers!

Servings: 12 bars

Calories: 113 per bar

(101 calories per bar without the coconut, 80 calories per bar using peanut flour instead of peanut butter)